


Woman's Work

by CommanderSpork



Category: Black Sails
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 03:36:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7828951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CommanderSpork/pseuds/CommanderSpork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When John Silver gets caught stealing from the fearsome Captain Flint, he has to use all of his charm and wit to come out of the situation unscathed. After all, dead man have no use for gold. With several parties to appease, this may not prove an easy task, but like always, Silver will take any opportunity that presents itself. An alternate take on ep. 1x03.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Woman's Work

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve seen all of Black Sails S1-3 at this point, and whereas I believe post S3 to be the best place for Silver/Flint – especially when considering it in romantic/love terms, I cannot let go of the possibility for it in early S1 which is entirely stimulated by: a) Silver being a flirtatious shit, b) Silver coming off as if he would do anything that he believes would help him get an advantage. So I decided to indulge myself.

Flint leaned forward, positioning his hands on the desk and staring Silver down. “And when the Urca is ours, what’s to stop me from killing you anyway?” There was a triumphant smirk on his face as he said this.

“Well,” Silver responded, buying time that way. His eyes lowered momentarily. He hadn’t gotten this far in his plan yet, so he needed his mind to work fast. “That’s a few weeks from now. I should say that is plenty of time for me to earn my stay. I can be useful in other ways you know. I can do the work on your ship that no one else wants to do. Peel potatoes with Randall, clean the shit buckets, swap the decks, do a woman’s work.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Flint grumbled. 

Both Captain Flint and Miss Guthrie were giving Silver harsh stares. The cocky joke that had popped up in his head may have been the better strategy after all. Though Billy, whose incredibly strong arms he’d admired earlier, but now felt unnerved by, seemed somewhat amused by this answer. 

“Well, just, you know,” Silver made sure to keep his voice light and expression open. His play had to be not to appear threatening in any sort of way. Not now. He did, however, make sure that he looked the captain straight in the eye. “Mend and wash clothes, cutting hair… That sorta thing.”

Flint huffed. “That sorta thing.” 

“Yes,” Silver said. He still looked Flint eye, unwavering.

Another smirk ran on Flint’s face. Perhaps it was supposed to be a real smile, but on a man like this such a thing just looked utterly horrid. 

Captain Flint turned to Miss Guthrie. “Good enough for you?”

“I guess it will have to be,” she replied, looking as one might look at an unrequited pup left at one’s doorstep. 

“Alright then,” Flint confirmed. Returning his gaze to Silver, he had just one more thing to say: “Out.”

At this point Billy Bones started protesting. Clearly, he was not happy with the deal. The captain ignored the man, but that didn’t stop further complaining. This, in combination with the direct order to leave, made Silver leap out of his chair, and out of the room. Were he gone, the opportunity to re-open negotiations about the bargain they struck would be gone too. 

“Mr. Gates and I will begin our search for a consort. This is not a task we will be able to complete without the assistance of another ship,” the Captain spoke.

Of course, Silver’s absence would not prevent the parties still present from coming up with another plan entirely. So, Silver had every intention of eavesdropping on the remainder of the conversation to make sure he knew what else might be coming his way. It should be easy enough here too, as he could casually pose himself outside one of those open windows. With some luck, he could also pick up some leads on what these men needed – and help them get it. That would be just what he required now to make everything go right in his favor again. Admittedly, this plan would take a little more effort than simply selling the page, but it also looked to increase the profits exponentially. Cocking his head to the side, Silver smiled widely. He prided himself on how he had managed to resolve yet another tense situation in his favor.

“Captain, can we just discuss this please!” Billy Bones insisted. Now sounding more vigorous and insistent. He would not be ignored again.

“Join me outside, Billy!” Mr. Gates, the quartermaster, intervened immediately.

Silver pulled the door closed behind him, as if he had not just heard that. An image came to mind of Billy Bones wrapping his hands around Silver’s neck and squeezing until the life had gone out of him. Best to avoid that kinda company. Silver’s eyes shot across the room. If he still wanted to end up underneath that window, an alternate route would be a safe way to go.  
To his left, his eye fell on an open doorpost. Most likely, the kitchen would be off in that direction. He counted on a second exit there, and if not, perhaps a window, or a place to temporarily hide. He walked toward it, quickly, but confidently, as if Miss Guthrie herself had just ordered him to go in there to prepare her a meal. 

The doorway brought him into the kitchen indeed, and luck being on his side, there was an exit leading into a back alley. His practiced light foot falls made it easy to slip past the two dark-skinned women, rolling dough and cutting fish, while chatting in their foreign tongue.

The alley did not turn directly around the building as Silver had hoped, but that was no harm done. He walked a few streets, quickening his pace so not to miss too much of the conversation, and…

Well, _shit!_

Just a few meters away, in front of the tavern, Mr. Gates and Billy Bones were talking, and just at the moment Silver had slipped the corner, Bones’ eyes had landed on that particular point.

“You!” the man cried out, his eyes wide and intense. 

Silver was just about to back up away in the street he came out, and make a run for it, as the captain stepped out and followed where his men’s gazes were directed. With the captain present, Silver would be a very foolish man indeed to be uncooperative. After all, if he were to make a bet on it, he would have to say that of all of them, the Captain was his greatest ally. And that was, to be fair, not much of an ally at all. 

Looking around one more time to see if there was any other alternative, and concluding there was none, he started slowly walking in the direction of the three pirates with a sheepish grin on his face. He did not have to go far, as with a few large strides Billy Bones had come up to him.

“What can I do for you on this fine-” Silver began.

“Come with me,” Billy Bones cut him off. 

Silver shot a helpless look to the two remaining behind. 

Mr. Gates grinned. “You ‘eard ‘im!” he shouted to Silver, with some joy.

The Captain and Mr. Gates exchanging glances, ending with the quartermaster placing a hand on his captain’s shoulder, was the last thing Silver saw before being dragged off. 

“You said you’d peel, and peel you shall,” Billy Bones spat at him.

-

“Mister Silver here has lost a wager to me, owes me the rest of the day helping you peel,” Billy Bones said to Randall.

The good thing about it was, when Billy had said peel, he’d actually meant peeling potatoes, instead of, you know, peeling off Silver’s skin – or whatever the hell kind of scary shit pirates liked to do. This came a long way of reassuring Silver that brutishness wasn’t a constant for this crew. The bad thing about the situation, however, was that Billy posted Randall as a watch, which the latter immediately demonstrated to take quite serious. This was an unfortunate set back. Offering to do the undesired work had been only to get on everyone’s good graces, but as it was clear that there was still plenty of bad blood to go around. Silver had actual work to do.

So, he did what he always did and threw out different pieces of bait. After about twenty minutes he had found an opening. An opening which he was not only very ready to exploit to get away from this very strange man, but also to improve his own situation over all.

Little over an hour after Billy Bones had left Silver, he was leading the man into an alley with the single-minded intend to win his favor. He ended up not having the big reveal he thought he had. However, when Billy only lightly brushed off Silver’s reassuring hand and did not send him back down to the beach for some more peeling, Silver counted this as progress.

Still standing on the ledge, Silver watched the tall pirate walk away. Though the guy was clearly still wary when dealing with him, his manner did not seem as inflamed now as earlier. In fact, it almost appeared as if some kindness was shining through the hard shell. Silver thought he had noticed that down on the beach today too, when Billy was delivering him into Randall’s hands. This was the reason why Silver had focused on targeting him today. Though scared of him only hours before, the tables were turning now to make Billy Bones one of Silver’s best options to protect himself. A man who would spin a lie not because they feared someone, but to protect the feelings of a person who took pride in doing one of the most tedious and lowest of tasks, that is the sort of man who would stick out for a brother.

Silver smiled, shifted his pose, and lifted his foot to walk off. At that moment, two strong hands grabbed him from behind. His leg shot up in the air, his arms flailed and his mouth and eyes were wide open. He panicked and began to struggle, but found he could not get loose. Before he could scream, one hand covered his mouth and the other snaked around his chest and dragged him into the darkness of the building behind him.

In there, he was slammed against the wall, and forcefully pinned in place by another person’s body.

The light creeping through from the cracks beside the door the only illumination in the otherwise dark room, it took Silver a moment to recognize that it was Flint who was holding him captive against the stone.

“Be quiet,” the captain grumbled, though keeping his voice down.

After a moment’s hesitation, in which it was likely more fear showed on Silver’s face than he was comfortable with, Silver stopped fighting and nodded his head. Upon this Flint removed his hand from his mouth, but still held him equally roughly against the wall.

“Repeat what it is you proposed to do on my ship.”

“Now see,” Silver began in his amiable tone of voice. “If you just wouldn’t have me pinned down so aggressively, I would be more than willing to talk about that.”  
Flint gave him an extra shove, and his face did that thing where he looked like he was glancing over a rotting piece of meat instead of looking at a person; the right side of his lip curling up and nose and eyes crinkling angrily.

“I want to make sure I heard you correctly this morning.”

Silver felt the hardness of Flint’s knife which, though stashed, pressed between their bellies. He remembered how the crew had cheered loudly when Flint overpowered Singleton, throwing his first seething punch, but gone utterly quiet when Flint’s fists kept raining down on the dead man, bludgeoning him beyond recognition.

“Oh, well, eh,” Silver stammered. “I just said that I would do the things nobody else wanted to do. Peel, and clean, and do-”

“A woman’s work,” Flint joined in so that they said the words together.

“Yes, that just,” Silver began, then stopped.

Flint stared at Silver with a belligerent look, which did even more to suspend Silver’s motions than the physical restraint.

Silver’s brows were furrowed and his mouth slightly open. Then, his mouth fell all the way open, forming a little ‘O’, his chin and eyebrows rising as a realization dawned on him. It had not been lost on him that Flint had picked up on the implied, though thoroughly denied, second meaning of the words. Though it had felt like they had both treated it more as a peripheral inside joke, having passed them by before they could laugh about it. Now, there seemed to be more to it.

This was an angle for sure, but how it would help his situation was entirely dependent on how Silver would manage the next few seconds. And that meant he had to find a way to answer one very important dilemma. If the Captain wanted the implication of those words, and Silver would pretend that there was nothing more to it than the explanation he had offered earlier, the door to an incredibly valuable opportunity would shut, most likely never to be opened again. However, if Silver did grab on to the implied meaning, and the Captain had actually dragged him in here because he took serious issue with it… Well, let’s just say carelessly implying a violent pirate captain might be a sodomite was not a very smart thing to do if one cared for one’s good health. And Silver would say this was especially so for this particular pirate captain.

Silver gave a slight little side-ways nod with a crooked half-smile, that he hoped expressed ‘oh that’, followed by something that would trail off somewhere half-way between ‘that’s just a foolish choice of words that came out because I was scared’ and shyly flirtatious.

Flint stepped away, letting Silver go.

For a moment the captain simply stood looking at Silver, his appearance no longer as threatening, but certainly not giving any conclusive evidence about what was to happen next, either. Silver watched carefully for any micro-expression that might give Flint’s intentions away: a hitch in his breath, a twitch in his hand.

Captain Flint went to the door – to barricade it. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Silver’s eyes shot around the room, looking for – anything really. They were in a storage room. He could see no other exit. There were crates, stone pots and bottles. Trying grab a bottle and hitting Flint over the head with it could be an option. Silver would probably not be fast enough out of there however, and the absolute last thing he wanted was to be pitted against this man in a fight. Though if it came to it, Silver would try; he would hit the Captain over the head, then bolt to the door.

“On your knees,” Flint commanded, voice rough.

That wasn’t necessary a good thing either. Silver’s hand twitched at his side as Flint reached for the knife tucked in his belt and trousers. The very same knife of which Silver had felt the press earlier. The sharp point of the thing came up, and so came Silver’s hand, ready to grab that bottle.

With a ‘THUNK’ that seemed incredibly loud in the small, silent room, Flint placed the weapon on the shelf next to him. His hand came back down, and peeled open the fastenings of his trousers.  
Silver’s shoulders came down as the tension that came with fearing for one’s life left them. He didn’t miss a beat to respond to the altered situation he was now in: “For that, I wanna negotiate new terms.”  
Flint laughed dryly. “Proof your worth, then I’ll hear your terms.”

There were at least two more weapons on the Captain that Silver could see. There was the cutlass in his shoulder holster, and a pistol in the holster of his belt. On top of that the situation was still very mercurial. 

So, Silver found himself agreeing with Miss Guthrie’s earlier sentiment: I guess that’ll just have to do.

With two quick steps he was near Flint. Their eyes met for a moment, after which Silver sank to his knees. His quick fingers plucked at the Captain’s shirt, trying to get it out of the way. This would be a lot easier if the belt were removed and the purple waist-band wouldn’t be tying it down, but Silver was not about to ask the man towering over him to undress. With one hand he held up the bunched up cloth, while with the other he pushed the flaps of the trousers out of the way.

Though invited, he still hesitated a moment before reaching in to grab the crux of the matter. After bringing it out, he held on to the base. He took a deep breath while taking a mental measure of the size, and then swallowed it down whole.

-

Pretty much as soon as the deed was done, Flint pulled away and tucked everything back in its proper place – as if nothing at all had happened. Silver watched the proceedings with due nervousness. Feeling as if he had something on his face, he wiped at his mouth with his sleeve, then looked at it in regret.

“Your terms, now,” Flint said, coarsely.

“Oh!” Silver scrambled at his feet. He had to admit he was kind of surprised – he had already begun fearing that his efforts had gotten him nowhere. “Alright. As we both seemed to have found there to be benefits to what just passed, here’s what I propose: For the duration of my stay aboard your ship, I will be available for your pleasure, at the time and location of your choosing. You may engage me for this as often as you please. In return for this service, I want an equal share of the Urca gold, just like the rest of the crew, and the guarantee that once the gold is retrieved I will be able to safely slip away with my share of said gold. That means you won’t do anything to hurt me, nor will you engage anyone else to do so. No games, no tricks.” Silver placed his hands on his hips, then, in the spur of the moment added: “And during fights I don’t go over the railing.”

“You want the same share as one of my men, you’ll have to fight for it like one of my men.”

“And aside from that?” Silver enquired.

“Yeah,” was what Flint offered in terms of agreement.

Silver looked at the other man for a moment, thinking over what had just happened, studying him for as long as he was allowed. Then he fired into action, rummaging through one of the shelves.  
He pulled out a glass jug filled with oil and held it out to Flint. He looked him straight in the eye as he spoke. “And if you want to,” he gestured about awkwardly for a moment, then gave up, assuming his meaning was clear enough. “Then you _will_ use this.”

Flint nodded, his eyes closed as he did so. At that moment – and it was so brief Silver later doubted if he’d really seen it at all – something soft and sad came over the captain’s features. A moment later it was gone, and Flint took the jug from Silver before walking out of the door without another word.


End file.
